We invite you to the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies 34th Annual Meeting. The theme of the meeting is “Promoting Societal Change: Integrating Traumatic Stress Research, Practice and Policy for Vulnerable Populations.” The ISTSS 34th Annual Meeting is an ideal platform to learn about recent advances in the field and how they can be used to improve recovery from trauma-related disorders.

The field of traumatic stress studies developed to address multiple facets of societal need and inequality, and quickly expanded to generate a vast amount of knowledge, with thousands of peer-reviewed publications spanning psychobiology and biomarkers, developmental manifestations, diverse psychiatric impacts, risk factors, health disparities, types of trauma, various treatments, and diverse populations. Increasing dissemination and knowledge transfer in the field of traumatic stress is helping to reduce the burden of trauma globally. However, more work remains ahead to fully integrate science, practice, and policy to improve societal outcomes, especially among at-risk and marginalized groups. The goal of this conference is to examine how we use our knowledge to promote physical and mental health, to understand barriers to building trauma-informed systems, and to devise strategies for creating sustainable societal change. The meeting will explore how we best capitalize on methodological pluralism to represent the needs and experiences of individuals and communities whose voices may less frequently come to the fore. Specific attention will be given to bidirectional knowledge transfer between the field and its constituents, with an eye towards improving equitable access to traumatic stress resources. We invite submissions which not only examine exposure to trauma and its multiple outcomes (including but beyond PTSD), but which situate trauma exposure and responses within the backdrop of societal structures such as discrimination, poverty, and family and community environment. Submissions should further consider how we apply the field’s knowledge outside of individual clinical practice to broader settings such as policy, child welfare, public health, education, and law.